Savannah Morning News | rich wittishhttp://savannahnow.com/sms/taxonomy/term/119/
enIsland Hopping: Tybee railroad builder tops list of legendary peoplehttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2014-01-16/island-hopping-tybee-railroad-builder-tops-list-legendary-people
<p>Longtime Savannah Morning News columnist and part-time Tybee Island resident Polly Powers Stramm told me last week she’d been approached about creating a book concerning legendary people in Savannah’s history.</p>
<p>That got me thinking about who might qualify for inclusion in such a book, based on their impact on our islands area.</p>
<p>The name that popped into my head belongs to someone with whom you might not be familiar.</p>
<p>He’s Daniel G. Purse, an entrepreneur who played a pivotal role in the development of Tybee as a resort and residential area.</p>
<p>Purse had nothing to do with the real estate boom that occurred on the island beginning in the mid-1990s.</p>
<p>His contribution took place in the late 1880s, when he built a railway from east Savannah to Tybee and thus greatly increased accessibility to the island and its beach to Savannahians and visitors from surrounding areas.</p>
<p>Purse, a native of Savannah, was a leader in the city’s business and civic affairs. His father, Thomas Purse, had been the mayor of Savannah, and D.G. was an alderman. He was credited with putting down Savannah’s first artesian well and with leading efforts to deepen the Savannah River channel.</p>
<p>In the spring of 1885, Purse bought a large portion of Tybee, but he faced a major problem in turning the island into the resort he envisioned.</p>
<p>The stumbling block was transporting people to the island without subjecting them to the two-hour steamboat ride from Savannah.</p>
<p>His solution was building a railroad, an idea that had been discussed for years but was considered hair-brained by skeptics.</p>
<p>And rightly so, because the railway would have to cross the great expanse of salt marsh that stretched from the mainland to the island.</p>
<p>Purse himself wrote in a report to his railroad stockholders that his endeavor was called by many “a wild and visionary scheme that was destined to result in failure.”</p>
<p>“It was freely predicted,” he wrote, “that the attempt to reach Tybee over the marshes would meet its Waterloo in the sinking out of sight of the first locomotive that attempted to traverse them,” or that tides swelled by rain and wind would “dissolve” the railway’s roadbed “like mists before a rising sun.”</p>
<p>Purse beat the marsh by using its blue clay to form a foundation for the roadbed. The clay hardened when exposed to the sun, making it impervious to water. Pure sand was laid over the foundation and covered with a jacket of clay, and the process worked splendidly.</p>
<p>Groundbreaking for the 17.7-mile-long Savannah and Tybee Railway was in August 1886. Construction was completed in June of the following year, and regularly scheduled runs from the city to the island and back began on July 16, 1887.</p>
<p>Trains ran on the hour, with the Savannah station being located at Randolph and President streets and the eastern terminus being alongside Main Street – now Butler Avenue — near the south end of Tybee.</p>
<p>Purse’s railroad was an engineering success, but financial problems led to its sale in 1890. The rail line was purchased by the Central Rail Road and Banking Company and was operated from then on as the Savannah and Atlantic Railroad. It became part of the Central of Georgia Railway in 1895.</p>
<p>The railroad was in existence into the 1930s but eventually was made obsolete by the advent of the automobile and the building of the road to Tybee, which was completed in 1923.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2014-01-16/island-hopping-tybee-railroad-builder-tops-list-legendary-people#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishBusinessLaborTechnologySavannahBusinessCentral of Georgia RailwaycolumnistContact DetailsDaniel G. PurseEntrepreneurFamily RelationGeography of GeorgiaGeography of the United StatesGeorgiaLaborleadermayorPerson CareerPerson LocationPolly Powers StrammQuotationSavannah metropolitan areaSavannah Morning NewsSavannah RiverSavannah, GeorgiaSS SavannahTechnologyThomas PurseTybee Island, GeorgiaFri, 17 Jan 2014 01:55:50 +0000rich wittish1049045 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Skidaway Island author turns tales into bookhttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-12-12/island-hopping-skidaway-island-author-turns-tales-book
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12898709.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="210" /></div><p />
<p>A penchant for relating “little tales, the ones that never make the evening news,” has led Skidaway Island resident Larry Larance to create a book of short stories set in his Savannah-area stomping grounds.</p>
<p>Larry’s sixth book, “Skidaway Scenes,” offers 15 such tales, most of which convey the fictional stories of retirees living at The Landings, the upscale residential community on the southern portion of the island.</p>
<p>When I asked Larry earlier this week whether the main characters in his stories are based on real people, he answered by saying his book is “a total fabrication, entirely the product of my imagination.”</p>
<p>“For the most part, the people in these little stories do not actually exist,” said 75-year-old Larry, who retired in 2000 in St. Louis as a division vice president of a Fortune 500 company. “However, having studied creative writing courses in college and nonfiction feature writing in graduate school, I am aware that all fiction is a product of experience, imagination and memory.”</p>
<p>In writing his latest book, he said, “I created fiction out of some of my own personal experiences and others from tales I heard growing up.”</p>
<p>The 192-page, softcover book released in November is produced by Penman Publishing. It sells for $12.95 and can be purchased at the Village Hallmark store on Skidaway or via the internet at <a href="http://www.penmanpublishers.com" title="www.penmanpublishers.com">www.penmanpublishers.com</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com" title="www.amazon.com">www.amazon.com</a>.</p>
<p>Addressing his interest in “little tales,” Larry writes in the postscript of his book that he finds them “everywhere.”</p>
<p>“Each life has its own mystery,” he states. “Good things and bad things can happen anywhere and at any time. Hidden among those disappointments that surface all too often we also find acts of kindness, the goodness of ordinary people, the positive efforts that lead us to smile and applaud the happiness we can find in life.</p>
<p>“I search for stories in that positive side of humanity, those that are seldom celebrated in the media, events that rarely lead to a newspaper headline.”</p>
<p>Larry and his wife, Beth, have lived at The Landings since 2001. “Skidaway Scenes” is the fifth book he’s written since then.</p>
<p>Two of those five — which I wrote about in earlier columns — are “Choctaw Bluff,” a fictionalized account of how Larry’s great-great-grandparents met and wed on the Southern frontier in the 1840s, and “Coast Guard Days,” which deals with his service as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis.</p>
<p>What’s next on Larry’s literary agenda?</p>
<p>“I don’t have a project underway at the moment,” he told me in answer to an email. “I’ve been traveling some and now am getting ready for a Christmas celebration here on Skidaway with all five of the Larance grandsons from two families — all boys between the ages of 8 and 15. It will be a lively time. Wish me luck!”</p>
<p>Here’s hoping that Larry and his family members have a wonderful Christmas holiday, and that all of you will, too.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-12-12/island-hopping-skidaway-island-author-turns-tales-book#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishTechnologySt. LouisPenman PublishingauthorContact DetailsFamily RelationGeography of GeorgiaGeography of the United StatesGeorgiaLARRY LARANCEPerson AttributesPerson RelationQuotationSavannah metropolitan areaSavannah, GeorgiaSkidaway Island, GeorgiaTechnologyUSDvice presidentVillage Hallmark storewww.amazon.comwww.penmanpublishers.comFri, 13 Dec 2013 04:18:59 +0000rich wittish1046827 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Fishin with Dixiehttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-11-28/island-hopping-fishin-daisy
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12854894.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="299" /></div><p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Burnside Island resident Donnie Fears wants the outdoors-oriented television program he’s begun hosting to be more than “just a fishing show.”</p>
<p>Donnie says the program, “Fishin With Dixie,” which premiered regionally Nov. 16 on WGSA, The CW network’s local affiliate, aims at being a “lifestyle show” featuring the beauty and history of local barrier islands, marshlands and waterways along with tips on angling. The show also highlights Donnie’s chief fishing companion: his dog, a 5-year-old, 125-pound, fawn-colored Great Dane named Dixie.</p>
<p>Throughout the second episode of the program, which aired last Saturday, the camera gravitated toward Dixie, showing her as she stood tall at the bow of Donnie’s 16-foot-long Carolina Skiff as it skimmed along a tidal creek; as she watched intently from a marshland bank for the popping cork on Donnie’s fishing line to take a hit; and as she frolicked while Donnie reeled in a 14-inch-long bass.</p>
<p>“She’s a great fisherman,” 54-year-old Donnie said of Dixie as we sat last week in a fast-food joint in eastside Savannah and discussed the show and his dog.</p>
<p>Donnie acquired Dixie when she was a puppy and regularly took her down to his dock on the Burnside River. The first time he took her out in a boat, Dixie fell in the water and Donnie had to haul her out.</p>
<p>The incident reminded Donnie of his own first fishing experience.</p>
<p>He was 3 when his mom and dad took him to the same dock to go crabbing.</p>
<p>“They turned around, and I was gone,” he said. “I fell in the water, and my daddy pulled me out — I came out smiling.”</p>
<p>The similarity in occurrences convinced Donnie he’d picked the right puppy to be his pal.</p>
<p>“I said, ‘THIS is the dog!’”</p>
<p>Donnie also brings human friends such as Shawn Boaen and Jeff Thomas on his televised fishing trips, and they interact with the host. But Donnie, with his gift of Southern gab, does most of the talking.</p>
<p>“I try to get Dixie to talk,” he said, “but she’s more interested in fishing.”</p>
<p>Donnie is a commercial welder by trade but a fisherman by nature, and that makes him a natural as the host of a show on angling.</p>
<p>“The only reason to go to work is to make money to go fishing,” Donnie told me in the spring of 2010 when I interviewed him and his Burnside Island buddy Jeff Thomas for a column about a “fish attracter” device they’d created.</p>
<p>Donnie and Jeff continue to manufacture and market the device, a popping cork they call the Burnside Bopper, and it’s what led in a roundabout way to the creation of “Fishin With Dixie.”</p>
<p>According to Donnie, videos hyping the Bopper and including shots of Dixie that are posted on YouTube caught the attention of folks at Tytan Creates, the Tybee Island-based film and video production company that created the Burnside Bopper logo.</p>
<p>Scott Jacobs and Jim Stone of Tytan spoke with Donnie about doing a fishing program, then floated the idea to management at WGSA CW 13.</p>
<p>A pilot show was created by Tytan, with Jacobs and Stone serving as producers and Brad Kremer as the director, and “they wanted more,” Donnie said of WGSA.</p>
<p>“We’ve shot three, and we’re looking at doing a full season of 13 shows,” he said.</p>
<p>Each show is 30 minutes long and will be shown on Thursdays at 11 p.m., according to Jacobs.</p>
<p>“Fishin With Dixie” co-producer Jacobs told me a fourth show is ready to go and that Tytan is anticipating a second season. A radio show featuring Donnie and his fishing tips is also in the works, Jacobs said.</p>
<p>“We want Donnie to be an ambassador of fishing,” said Jacobs, noting plans for programs that would show Donnie sharing his expertise with anglers from other countries.</p>
<p>The third episode of the show is scheduled to air this Saturday at 8 a.m., and it will feature a segment on Dixie’s birthday party.</p>
<p>“Every year, we have a Lowcountry boil at the river,” said Donnie. “We have a birthday party, and we invite the neighbors. We have balloons, cake and presents for Dixie, and the kids in the neighborhood sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her.”</p>
<p>That might sound like too much celebrating over a dog, but I think it just might be justified in Dixie’s case.</p>
<p>After all, she is a TV star.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-11-28/island-hopping-fishin-daisy#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishEntertainmentDixieAcquisitionAmerican songsAmerican studiesAnimal intelligencebankCarolina SkiffChiefCompany LocationContact DetailsDixieDonnieDonnie FearsEntertainmentfishermanFishin With DixiefoodJeff ThomasPerson AttributesPerson CareerPerson Email AddressQuotationScott JacobsVocal musicWGSAFri, 29 Nov 2013 03:14:56 +0000rich wittish1045893 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Islands High students raising puppies to help othershttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-11-15/island-hopping-islands-high-students-raising-puppies-help-others
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12788348.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="322" /></div><p />
<p>Each day, Islands High School junior Bonny Woods does something unavailable to all but a very few of her classmates.</p>
<p>She brings her dog to school.</p>
<p>Bonny and four other students at Islands are part of a pilot program in which they’re raising puppies that will eventually be trained as guide dogs for visually impaired people. The students keep the puppies in their homes and take the dogs everywhere they go, including to school.</p>
<p>“I never leave her at home,” said Bonny of her puppy Rianne. “I’ve taken her to volleyball games, football games, shopping and to family reunions.”</p>
<p>The five puppies being cared for by the students over a 13-month period are on loan from Southeastern Guide Dogs, a nonprofit organization in Palmetto, Fla., that depends on volunteers to serve as puppy raisers. </p>
<p>The students — all of whom are involved in the Whitemarsh Island school’s veterinary sciences program — are tasked with making the puppies comfortable in their homes, giving them basic obedience training, and exposing them to the world. </p>
<p>According to the Southeastern Guide Dogs website, “Puppy raisers take our puppies everywhere — to work, out to eat, on trips, and even grocery shopping. This real-world training imitates the experiences that our dogs need to successfully guide a visually impaired person wherever they want to go.”</p>
<p>Being a puppy raiser is a big responsibility, says Bonny, a resident of Wilmington Island.</p>
<p>“It’s like having a child,” she said.</p>
<p>Her fellow puppy raisers are senior Lainey Sharpley of Isle of Hope, junior Chris Allen of southside Savannah, and junior Breanna Glenn and sophomore Nathan Outlaw, both of Wilmington Island.</p>
<p>Their puppies — Rianne, Jack, Titan, Star and Allied — are goldadors, a mix of the Labrador retriever and golden retriever breeds. They were four months old when they arrived in Savannah from Florida in September.</p>
<p>Having a puppy-raiser program at Islands is the brainchild of veterinary sciences teacher Elise Zador, who is coordinating the endeavor. The program “dovetails nicely” with the veterinary sciences curriculum, she said, and “the whole school is basically benefiting from it” because so many students come in contact with the dogs.</p>
<p>Elise learned about puppy raisers at an educators’ conference in July then approached Southeastern Guide Dogs about starting a program at her school. Southeastern has been providing guide dogs to people with visual impairments since 1982 and currently has more than 410 active guide-dog partnerships and 250 puppy raisers.</p>
<p>“It’s not unique to have high school kids as puppy raisers, but it is unique to have that many at one school,” said Southeastern media relations manager Jennifer Bement regarding her organization’s Islands High connection. “We’ve not ever had five all in one place.</p>
<p>“It’s a great idea, and we’re really glad they got in touch with us so they could do it. It’s a great program, and I hope it continues.”</p>
<p>In implementing the program, the Islands High students are using Southeastern’s “Puppy Raiser Manual” to aid them in socializing and training their dogs. </p>
<p>“You have to follow specific rules,” said Bonny of the manual and its “step-by-step, month-by-month” instructional format.</p>
<p>The dogs wear blue capes when they are “working” — developing the demeanor they’ll need as guide dogs.</p>
<p>That demeanor — the ability the puppies will need to ignore distractions such as people talking to them and attempting to pet them — is crucial to a guide dog because, when it’s at work, the animal has to devote all its attention to assisting its visually impaired owner.</p>
<p>The puppies learn that they’re working when they’re wearing their blue capes. </p>
<p>After the dogs are returned to Southeastern next year for more extensive training in Florida, they’ll be wearing guide-dog harnesses.</p>
<p>That’s likely to be a tough time for the five student puppy raisers, who have already grown fond of their newfound, furry friends.</p>
<p>“It’s going to be hard to let her go,” said Bonny of her puppy.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>HELP OUT</strong></p>
<p>Puppy raisers are responsible for providing food, flea treatments and other essentials for their dogs, and that can cost upward of $800 during the 13-month program, according to Elise Zador. If you’d like to help support the puppy-raiser endeavor at Islands High, contact Elise at 210-0617 to learn what you can do.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-11-15/island-hopping-islands-high-students-raising-puppies-help-others#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishEducationTechnologyPalmettoAssistance dogsBiologyBlindnessBonny WoodsBreanna GlennBreedingChris AllenContact DetailsDogDog breedingDogsEducationElise ZadorFloridaGolden RetrieverGuide dogLifesavingNathan OutlawPerson CareerPerson Email AddressPuppyQuotationTechnologyZoologyFri, 15 Nov 2013 05:04:30 +0000rich wittish1044884 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: One Love rescues animalshttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-10-31/island-hopping-one-love-rescues-animals
<p>Wilmington Island resident Vanessa Lewallen and two of her pals who do volunteer work at the Savannah-Chatham police Animal Control shelter recently saw a need for more pet adoption services.</p>
<p>So, the three women — Vanessa, Dana Bertagnolli and Karrie Bulski — have formed One Love Animal Rescue, a volunteer-based, non-profit organization that seeks to help abandoned, neglected, abused and unwanted pets by partnering with shelters, rescue groups and the community to facilitate the adoption of such dogs and cats into permanent and loving homes.</p>
<p>“Our goal is to save one life at a time by promoting local animal shelter adoptions and raising awareness in our community about responsible pet ownership,” says the mission statement at One Love’s website. “Our dream is that one day all the shelters will be empty because every pet will have a home.”</p>
<p>Dana, who lives in west Chatham County, began volunteering at the Animal Control shelter at 7211 Sallie Mood Drive late last year; Karrie, a resident of southeast Chatham, and Vanessa started helping out there early this year.</p>
<p>“We all came to the conclusion we needed to have the authority to do more” in assisting Animal Control with making adoptions, said Vanessa.</p>
<p>“The best way was to start an additional (animal rescue) group,” she said.</p>
<p>So the three women had their organization incorporated in July and, by the end of August, obtained a license to facilitate animal adoptions from the State Department of Agriculture. That agency sets limits on the number of animals a rescue group can deal with, Vanessa said.</p>
<p>One Love has a listing of adoptable pets at its website at <a href="http://www.onelovenimalrescue.com" title="www.onelovenimalrescue.com">www.onelovenimalrescue.com</a>. Photos, descriptions and histories of the dogs and cats are included. Pets can also be adopted via the organization’s foster care program.</p>
<p>Adoptable animals can be viewed at the Animal Control shelter from 1 to 4:45 p.m. daily, and appointments to meet with One Love adoption counselors during those times can be made by calling 572-1251.</p>
<p>Animal Control’s mission is “to enforce state laws and county ordinances pertaining to animal control and management, educate the community in responsible pet ownership, and provide for the housing and care of homeless animals and coordinate their adoption with local rescue organizations, or their humane euthanization when adoption is not possible.”</p>
<p>The “Pet Adoptions” page at Animal Control’s website indicates that its primary adoption facilitators are One Love and the Pound Pups Rescue Group, whose web site is at <a href="http://www.poundpupsinneed.com" title="www.poundpupsinneed.com">www.poundpupsinneed.com</a>.</p>
<p>The page states that the shelter also works with the following rescues: the Save-A-Life animal welfare group; the 2nd Chance dog rescue and referral organization; Coastal Pet Rescue; and the Humane Society of Savannah/Chatham.</p>
<p>Vanessa said One Love is happy to work with and assist other groups doing pet adoptions. </p>
<p>“All we care about is getting these dogs and cats in permanent, loving homes,” she said.</p>
<p>When I spoke with Vanessa a week ago, she said that One Love had been responsible for at least 65 adoptions of animals since the organization was started. </p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-10-31/island-hopping-one-love-rescues-animals#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishLawSocial IssuesTechnologyAnimal Control shelterAnimal rightsAnimal sheltersAnimal welfareCoastal Pet RescueContact DetailsDana BertagnolliHumane societyKarrie BulskiLawPetPet adoptionPetfinder.orgPetsQuotationRescue dogRescue groupSocial IssuesState Department of AgricultureTechnologyVanessa LewallenZoologyFri, 01 Nov 2013 02:22:57 +0000rich wittish1043829 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Farmers' market quickly bloominghttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-10-17/island-hopping-farmers-market-quickly-blooming
<p>The recently opened Wilmington Island Farmers’ Market has grown from 15 vendors to 27 in its month-and-a-half-long existence, and attendance has been holding steady with about 1,000 customers.</p>
<p>“Things are going fabulously,” market manager and founder Debby McIncrow told me recently of the endeavor, which is being held each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the campus of Islands Community Church on Walthour Road.</p>
<p>“We’re still accepting new vendors,” said Debby. “We could add 15 more vendors if we choose to.”</p>
<p>There’s currently a discussion among the market’s 10-member executive board about how fast to grow, she said.</p>
<p>“Are we going to hold steady or grow?” Debby said of deliberations regarding when and how much to expand. “We don’t want to fall into the pitfall of overextending ourselves.”</p>
<p>Market officials, all of whom are volunteers, are “still on the hunt for farmers and in need of a dairy to bring their products,” she said.</p>
<p>“We’re confidant we will fall into that niche,” Debby said of finding a provider of dairy offerings.</p>
<p>Two new vendors were scheduled to come on board this past Saturday — Adams Farms of Bloomingdale, which was bringing produce and fresh-cut flowers to the market, and Chocolat by Adam Turoni, a chocolatier from downtown Savannah.</p>
<p>Being added in November are prepared foods, an “element customers have been asking for,” said Debby.</p>
<p>The Blue Turtle Bistro of midtown Savannah will be offering veggie wraps, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs and potato salad, and “maybe peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids,” she said. </p>
<p>Speaking of children, the market’s story time activity — held from 9:30 to 10 a.m. — has been a big hit, with many of the young listeners being brought to the market in little wagons towed by family members.</p>
<p>“There’s a different reader each week,” said Debby of the story times, which are a key part of making the market a community-building event. “The kids are so excited — it’s a special part of the market.”</p>
<p>Another feature is the appearance of a guest chef on the last Saturday of each month. The first chef to give a cooking demonstration was Roberto Leoci of Leoci’s Trattoria of Savannah, who created a pasta dish using ingredients from the market on Sept. 28.</p>
<p>Next up, on Oct. 26 at 11 a.m., is Mir Ali, the executive chef at North Beach Grill on Tybee Island.</p>
<p>Officials are continuing to work on filling the “immediate needs of the market,” said Debby, identifying those needs as “more and better signage and providing vendors with electricity.”</p>
<p>With that in mind, the Masquerade Event fundraiser is being held on Nov. 1 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum at 41 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.</p>
<p>The evening of fun, food, drinks and dancing will include a Stay Savannah silent auction and live entertainment by the band Benton Hill.</p>
<p>Tickets are $60 per person, and they can be purchased at the market, online at <a href="http://www.wifarmersmarket.org/events" title="www.wifarmersmarket.org/events">www.wifarmersmarket.org/events</a> or by mail at P.O. Box 30482, Savannah GA 31410.</p>
<p>“The dress is semi-formal,” said Debby. “You don’t have to come in costume – that’s optional.”</p>
<p>The market is also “still looking for volunteers,” she said. </p>
<p>“We have over a hundred on our e-mail list, with 15 to 20 stepping up to the plate on a weekly basis.”</p>
<p>There are an array of different jobs available for volunteers, and you can offer your services by stopping in at the market or contacting the market’s volunteer coordinator via e-mail at <a href="mailto:wifarmersmarketv@aol.com">wifarmersmarketv@aol.com</a>.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-10-17/island-hopping-farmers-market-quickly-blooming#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishSavannahAdam Turonicampus of Islands Community ChurchContact DetailsDebby McIncrowExecutiveFarmers' marketGeography of GeorgiaGeography of the United StatesGeorgiamanagerPerson CareerQuotationRural community developmentSavannah, GeorgiaSS SavannahFri, 18 Oct 2013 01:53:34 +0000rich wittish1042773 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Husband, wife take on priesthoodhttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-10-03/island-hopping-husband-wife-take-priesthood
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12677905.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="187" /></div><p />
<p>Bruce and Lori Fehr have been sharing each others’ lives since they met at a bus stop as eighth-graders in southern California during the early 1970s.</p>
<p>They were together through junior high school, senior high school, college and law school. They married just before starting their junior years in college and raised two daughters while living in Ventura, Calif., and in the Pensacola area of Florida.</p>
<p>Now, they’re starting to share another experience: being pastors at St. Francis of the Islands Episcopal Church on Wilmington Island.</p>
<p>This evening at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of the church, Bruce and Lori Fehr — which is pronounced “fair” — will be ordained together as priests.</p>
<p>In 2010, they left their careers as lawyers and attended theological school at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. This past May, they graduated — together, of course.</p>
<p>During their 33 years of marriage, the Fehrs had been extremely active in the Episcopalian churches they attended. They served in lay ministry — assisting at the altar, taking communion to shut-ins, leading youth groups.</p>
<p>“You name it, we did it,” Lori told me during a recent interview with her and Bruce.</p>
<p>While living in Gulf Breeze, Fla., she completed a three-year-long education for ministry course through the University of the South. </p>
<p>“I felt like perhaps God was calling me to the ordained ministry,” Lori said. </p>
<p>But she “put that sense of call on the back burner” while working as a lawyer with the Florida Department of Children and Families, for whom over the span of 13 years she handled legal cases involving kids who were abused, abandoned or neglected.</p>
<p>Near the end of the first decade of the 2000s, “God started rapping on my door again,” Lori said, and that took her through a process leading to theological school.</p>
<p>The Fehrs moved to Tennessee, with Bruce continuing to practice law in Florida from Sewanee. </p>
<p>He had “explored” being an ordained minister while living in California in 1990, said Lori, and his new situation rekindled his interest.</p>
<p>“Living in a seminary environment makes you think about it,” Bruce said.</p>
<p>He “started working with a spiritual director,” and, during Lori’s first semester, took a seminary class — which he was able to do for free as the spouse of a student, and that “got his toe in the door.”</p>
<p>After graduating from seminary in the spring, the Fehrs began searching for a church, hoping to find one that would meet a pretty demanding list of requirements.</p>
<p>“It had to be a parish that would take both of us,” said Lori. “And it had to be near the beach and near our girls, who are in Atlanta.”</p>
<p>“We figured we gave the Holy Spirit a pretty tall order,” said Bruce.</p>
<p>That order was filled through the opportunity to serve at St. Francis, where the vestry – the church’s elected leaders – in August called Bruce to be the rector and Lori to be the priest associate.</p>
<p>For a church to have a husband and wife as its priests is “pretty unusual,” said Bruce.</p>
<p>“That required a leap of faith on the part of the vestry,” he said.</p>
<p>When I spoke with the Fehrs, they had been working at the church for four days in their capacity of ordained deacons, and they were still figuring out how they would share their pastoral duties.</p>
<p>“He really likes history and the liturgy,” said Lori, “and I really like the spirituality and pastoral care. I think it will just shake out naturally.”</p>
<p>“We will probably alternate duties between celebrating the Eucharist and preaching,” said Bruce.</p>
<p>Whatever happens, they seem confident of an amicable outcome.</p>
<p>“It’s real easy for us to work together because we have a long history of doing things together,” said Lori.</p>
<p>“We like to sail, and if you can work with your spouse on a sailboat, you can work with them anywhere.”</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-10-03/island-hopping-husband-wife-take-priesthood#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishReligionGulf BreezeVenturaBruce FehrCaliforniaChristianityContact DetailsCouncil of Independent CollegesDeaconEpiscopal ChurchEpiscopal Church in the United States of AmericaFloridalawyerLori FehrPerson RelationProtestant Episcopal ChurchQuotationReligionSewaneeSewanee: The University of the SouthSouthern CaliforniaTennesseeFri, 04 Oct 2013 02:10:59 +0000rich wittish1041759 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Cleaning coast makes for fun day on beachhttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-09-19/island-hopping-cleaning-coast-makes-fun-day-beach
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12639485.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="134" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12639483.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="209" /></div><p>Until last Saturday, I wouldn’t have thought you could have a good time picking up trash.</p>
<p>Participating in Clean Coast’s cleanup of the beach on the north end of Wassaw Island on Sept. 14, however, gave me a different outlook on collecting litter.</p>
<p>Clean Coast is a Savannah-based, all-volunteer nonprofit that holds monthly cleanups of marine debris on beaches and in marshes along the Georgia coast. </p>
<p>Thus far this year, members of the organization have picked up trash on Little Tybee Island and the north and south ends of Ossabaw and Wassaw islands, and at Raccoon Key, Fort Pulaski National Monument on Cockspur Island and the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. Next month, on the 26th, they’re scheduled to visit Blackbeard Island.</p>
<p>Leaders of the 22-year-old group estimate that an average of 800 to 1,000 pounds of trash is collected per cleanup.</p>
<p>“It’s fun,” said Clean Coast member Joe Bonds when I asked him on the beach at Wassaw why he’s taken part in the cleanups for the better part of the past decade.</p>
<p>“Mostly, though,” said Joe, a resident of Wilmington Island and the organization’s treasurer, “we want to get other people involved and sensitive to the fact that our beaches are pretty trashy, and that’s not a good thing.”</p>
<p>Not good, as Joe and other Clean Coast members will tell you, because marine debris can be harmful to wildlife – sometimes fatally, in addition to being an eyesore for humans.</p>
<p>So, what’s fun about spending a few hours picking up trash?</p>
<p>Well, last weekend, there was the boat ride on a gorgeous late summer day to isolated Wassaw, where a walk on the wide and beautiful north-end beach takes you through an almost-surreal “bone yard” of fallen trees.</p>
<p>There was the company of a group of ultra-positive folks, about 20 of them, who were enthusiastic about aiding the environment.</p>
<p>There was the work itself, which took the form of a trashy treasure hunt. It was fun to see what you could find and how much you could accumulate.</p>
<p>My three-person team of trash collectors picked up lots of plastic bottles and tin cans and about a gazillion pieces of Styrofoam, in addition to food wrappers, plastic bags, balloons and bits of rope. There was an emphasis on collecting plastic items, as voiced by Clean Coast President Karen Grainey, because of their resistance to breaking down naturally.</p>
<p>After a couple of hours of walking the beach, all the volunteers returned to our landing site, where there was socializing around a table laden with snacks, including sweet treats made by Charlotte Dixon, the organization’s vice president and the owner of a Wilmington Island bakery.</p>
<p>And, there was, as longtime Clean Coast member Charlotte Keenoy put it, “playing in the water” for folks who chose to take dips in the nearby Atlantic Ocean.</p>
<p>One of those was Julie Gamble, who had driven for an hour and a half from Ludowici to participate in the day‘s activities.</p>
<p>“I love it,” she said of the cleanups, with Saturday’s being her third. “The people are outstanding, and you’re doing something to conserve our environment. I find it to be very relaxing and rewarding.”</p>
<p>If you’re interested in becoming a member of Clean Coast and/or participating in a cleanup, visit the organization’s website at <a href="http://www.cleancoast.org" title="www.cleancoast.org">www.cleancoast.org</a> or send an e-mail to <a href="mailto:mailbox@cleancoast.org">mailbox@cleancoast.org</a>.</p>
<p>The organization is always on the lookout for volunteers, in particular those who own boats and can provide transportation to cleanups.</p>
<p>Membership dues are $15 for students and seniors, $25 for individuals and $35 for families, with the money being used for supplies and to maintain the organization’s pickup truck and 24-foot-long skiff. </p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-09-19/island-hopping-cleaning-coast-makes-fun-day-beach#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishBusinessTechnologySavannahBeachBusinessContact DetailsEnvironmentFort Pulaski National MonumentGeography of GeorgiaGeorgiaJoe BondsLitterLittle Tybee IslandMarine debrisOcean pollutionPerson CareerQuotationTechnologytreasurerTybee Island, GeorgiaWassaw IslandWasteWaterFri, 20 Sep 2013 02:48:19 +0000rich wittish1040707 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Local dolphin begging ranks dangerously highhttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-09-05/island-hopping-local-dolphin-begging-ranks-dangerously-high
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12594083.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="186" /></div><p />
<p>Marine sciences researchers at Savannah State University are convinced our area’s estuarine waters are the No. 1 spot in the world for begging by bottlenose dolphins, and that’s not a good thing.</p>
<p>Coastal rivers, sounds and creeks from the Savannah River south to Ossabaw Sound are rife with people feeding dolphins and otherwise luring the animals to their boats, researcher Tara Cox told me recently.</p>
<p>That causes the marine mammals to get in the habit of begging for food, which is a dangerous tendency for both dolphins and humans, said Tara, an associate professor of marine sciences at SSU.</p>
<p>“In the Savannah area, we have the world’s worst begging problem with dolphins,” said Tara, whose research was brought to my attention a few weeks ago while I was writing about the rescue of a dolphin that had become entangled in commercial fishing gear.</p>
<p>“When I came here for an interview,” she said of a visit to SSU in summer 2007, “they took me out on a boat, and dolphins came up to the boat, opening their mouths. </p>
<p>“I was horrified.”</p>
<p>Tara said she was appalled because extreme human interaction with dolphins in the wild “dramatically changes their behavior” by influencing the dolphins to beg for food rather than forage for it.</p>
<p>Feeding dolphins and playing with them also makes them much more susceptible to being struck by boats, she said.</p>
<p>“We had one dolphin mom that persistently begged, and her calf wound up dead on a beach,” said Tara. “The calf had several healed injuries, possibly from boat strikes, and it was emaciated — it couldn’t forage on its own.”</p>
<p>Apparently, the adult dolphin had taught her baby to beg instead of teaching it to find its own food.</p>
<p>In their sightings of dolphins on local waters, Tara and her students “see a lot of scarred animals.”</p>
<p>Researchers from other areas, she said, “always comment on how beaten up our animals are — likely from getting too close to boats.”</p>
<p>Feeding dolphins can also be hazardous to humans. Dolphins have extremely sharp teeth, and being inadvertently bitten by one can have serious consequences, because a dolphin’s mouth is full of bacteria, and the animals can transmit some nasty mammalian diseases, such as herpes.</p>
<p>Topping all this off is the fact that federal law — the Marine Mammal Protection Act — makes it illegal to harass or feed marine mammals. Violations can result in fines of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for one year.</p>
<p>Tara began teaching at SSU in January 2008, and during the past four years, she and a half-dozen marine sciences graduate students have been researching the dolphin begging problem.</p>
<p>She and two of the grad students started the project in summer 2009, originally intending to focus on “strand feeding” — a foraging technique peculiar to dolphins in Georgia and South Carolina in which the mammals herd fish onto mud banks, then launch themselves onto the shore to take the fish.</p>
<p>“But we didn’t see much of that,” said Tara. “What we saw instead was begging.</p>
<p>“We saw begging on two-thirds of our days on the water. In 25 percent of our sightings of dolphins, there was begging.”</p>
<p>Since that summer, Tara and the students involved in the project have been documenting the begging, and attempting to quantify it and determine “where it’s coming from.”</p>
<p>They’ve compared begging here to the begging in the four other biggest “hot spots” in the world — in Panama City and Sarasota in Florida and in two places in Australia. </p>
<p>“If you compare us to those areas, we are four to five times greater than any of those four places,” Tara said.</p>
<p>As for the source of the begging behavior, she said that some of it might stem from dolphins feeding on the unwanted catch of commercial fishing boats that’s been thrown overboard.</p>
<p>“But that happens all up and down the East Coast,” Tara said.</p>
<p>A more likely source is what she calls “a culture in Savannah of feeding wild bottlenose dolphins.”</p>
<p>Of their attempts to pin down the source, Tara said, “We tried to figure this out on the water, then switched to the human element — we switched to interviewing people.”</p>
<p>A grad student did surveys at fishing piers, marinas and even downtown Savannah, talking to tourists on the street. The student asked interviewees if they had seen people interacting with dolphins and if they had ever wanted to do so.</p>
<p>“It seems like there were a lot of people who know feeding dolphins is illegal and chose to do it anyway,” said Tara. Others, she said, didn’t know it was unlawful to entice dolphins to come near boats.</p>
<p>The findings of the SSU researchers have been submitted in manuscript form to “Marine Mammal Science,” the journal of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. </p>
<p>The manuscript has been favorably received, Tara said, and she expects an article to appear sometime next year in the journal, which, according to its website, “publishes significant new findings on marine mammals resulting from original research.”</p>
<p>She’s hoping such an article would pave the way to obtaining a National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration program called “Dolphin Smart” — an educational campaign and certification program for dolphin tour operators that’s been implemented in Panama City and Sarasota.</p>
<p>“We would like to get it here,” Tara said. “One reason we documented the problem was to convince NOAA to bring the program here.”</p>
<p>It’s her experience that, for the most part, operators of local dolphin tours do a good job in educating their customers about the adverse effects of interacting with dolphins and that the operators aren’t a part of the begging problem.</p>
<p>However, bringing in “Dolphin Smart” might be a first step in increasing public awareness of the begging dilemma.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-09-05/island-hopping-local-dolphin-begging-ranks-dangerously-high#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishTechnologyCoastalassociate professorBiologyBodies of waterBottlenose dolphinBottlenose Dolphin Research InstituteCetaceansContact DetailsDolphinDolphin drive huntingfoodOceanic dolphinsPerson CareerQuotationresearcherSavannah State UniversityTara CoxTechnologyUSDWaterFri, 06 Sep 2013 03:51:07 +0000rich wittish1039670 at http://savannahnow.comDolphin family saved in Wilmington Riverhttp://savannahnow.com/column/2013-08-08/island-hopping-dolphin-family-saved-wilmington-river
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12512398.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="373" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12512397.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="124" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12512400.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="187" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12512403.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="157" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12512404.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="187" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12512405.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="186" /><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12512406.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="187" /></div><p>“Things happen for a reason.”</p>
<p>That’s part of Mike Bainter’s outlook on life, and a recent “thing” was Mike’s sighting of a bottlenose dolphin struggling for its life in the Wilmington River about five miles from Wassaw Sound.</p>
<p>The female dolphin was entangled in a blue crab-pot buoy line and in danger of drowning, a circumstance that probably would have also led to the eventual death of her calf, which was swimming near her.</p>
<p>Thanks to quick actions on the part of Mike and his stepfather Andrew Wallace and a team of rescuers from the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service on Skidaway Island and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in Brunswick, the dolphin was cut loose from the crab-trap line and saved.</p>
<p>She and her baby were last seen by her rescuers “swimming and behaving normally,” according to a report on the incident by DNR wildlife biologist and marine mammal coordinator Clay George.</p>
<p>“This is the ninth dolphin documented entangled in blue crab fishing gear since 2004,” George told me on Monday from his office in Brunswick. “Six of those were still alive when found and were disentangled and released unharmed.</p>
<p>“One was observed swimming with a crab-pot buoy line wrapped around its fluke, but we were unable to disentangle it, and we don’t know its fate. The remaining two dolphins unfortunately were already dead when they were first discovered entangled.”</p>
<p>George termed the most recent entanglement on Aug. 1 “an incidental interaction” and said no one was at fault.</p>
<p>“The gear is out there in the water and, for reasons we don’t understand, every now and then an entanglement occurs,“ he said.</p>
<p>Bainter, a marine artist from New Port Richey, Fla., and Wallace, a resident of Eclectic, Ala., had been participating in a fishing tournament held out of Hogan’s Marina on Wilmington Island. They were headed back to shore around noontime when they spotted the dolphin.</p>
<p>“I noticed a buoy and a bunch of splashing going on,” said Bainter.</p>
<p>Investigating, he and Wallace found “a dolphin tangled up in one of those traps — it looked like its tail was lassoed.”</p>
<p>“She looked like she was under a lot of duress,” Bainter said.</p>
<p>Indeed, the buoy line was “entangled tightly around her flukes and peduncle,” George wrote in his report, referring to the dolphin’s tail section. “The dolphin appeared to be lifting the pot off the bottom of the river in order to reach the surface to breathe.”</p>
<p>Fearing for the life of the dolphin and its baby, Bainter called 911 at 12:30 p.m., and, following protocol, a Savannah-Chatham police dispatcher reached then contacted George, who also heads our state’s marine mammal stranding network.</p>
<p>Knowing he had little time to spare, George called John “Crawfish” Crawford, his network contact in Savannah and a longtime member of the faculty of the Marine Extension Service aquarium on Skidaway.</p>
<p>“We’re in Brunswick,” George told me, “... and I needed somebody who could respond quickly.</p>
<p>“I’ve worked with John for years, and he’s very capable.”</p>
<p>Crawford, a naturalist and marine education specialist for more than two decades, said he “grabbed” two other faculty members, Mary Sweeney-Reeves and Devin Dumont, and rushed off by boat in search of the dolphin.</p>
<p>They located her at 1:20 p.m., and, reported George, “they pulled the buoy line toward the boat, and several attempts were made to cut the line loose ..., but the dolphin was thrashing its flukes too wildly.”</p>
<p>So they affixed two polyball flotation devices to the line “in order to buoy the crab pot and keep the dolphin from drowning,” said George, adding that, “afterward, the dolphin was able to breathe normally.”</p>
<p>George and another DNR staffer, Nicole Brandt, arrived on the scene in the river south of Sister Island at 3:10 p.m. With Brandt photo-documenting the rescue from the DNR boat, George joined the trio from Skidaway on their skiff.</p>
<p>Working together, the four rescuers disentangled the dolphin from the line. She was swimming free at 3:20 and, said George, “did not appear to be seriously injured.”</p>
<p>“We were fortunate to get there in time to keep the animal from drowning,” he said of the response by all involved.</p>
<p>According to George, the event was the first disentanglement of a living dolphin involving Marine Extension Service staffers since 2006, when a dolphin in distress was rescued in Wassaw Sound.</p>
<p>In an email concerning the Aug. 1 rescue, Crawford summed up the sentiments of those who took part by stating: “Needless to say, we are all feeling great about being able to help out this dolphin family.”</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>SAVE A LIFE</strong></p>
<p>Wildlife biologist Clay George encourages people to report injured, entangled and dead marine mammals and sea turtles to Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources by calling 1-800-2-SAVE-ME.</p>
http://savannahnow.com/column/2013-08-08/island-hopping-dolphin-family-saved-wilmington-river#commentsDoColumnNewsrich wittishEclecticBrunswickNatural ResourcesAlabamaAndrew WallaceartistbiologistBottlenose dolphinCetaceansClay GeorgeContact DetailscoordinatorDolphinsFamily RelationFloridaGeorgiaHogan's MarinaJohn "Crawfish" CrawfordMike BainterOceanic dolphinsPerson CareerQuotationToothed whalesUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia Marine Extension ServiceWaterWilmington RiverZoologyFri, 09 Aug 2013 03:25:47 +0000rich wittish1037447 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Allergist pens devotionals for busy folkshttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-07-25/island-hopping-allergist-pens-devotionals-busy-folks
<div><img src="http://sav-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/12472650.jpg" alt="" title="" class="imagecache imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb imagecache-default imagecache-story_slideshow_thumb_default" width="280" height="315" /></div><p>The idea of writing a book of Biblical reflections “for busy people on the go” occurred to Dr. Jack Eades while he was turkey hunting in South Carolina.</p>
<p>“I was sitting in a deer stand when the thought popped into my mind about writing devotionals for each book of the Bible,” said Eades of that early morning happening in April 2012. “Then I had the thought — ‘Do it now’ — and I felt compelled to get up and do it immediately.</p>
<p>“I picked up my shotgun, put it over my shoulder and walked a mile to the cabin where I was staying,” said Jack, a Wilmington Island resident who’s worked as an allergist in Savannah for the past 16 years. </p>
<p>“I found a pad of paper at the cabin and wrote five of them,” he said, referring to verses of scripture and his reflections on their words.</p>
<p>In the course of the ensuing year, Jack created “In a Hurry To Be Holy: Short Devotionals for Busy People,” a 40-page, soft-cover, magazine-size book that debuted earlier this month. </p>
<p>The book, published by WestBow Press and selling for $15.63 on Amazon.com, is available locally at the Barnes and Noble bookstore at Oglethorpe Mall; at E. Shaver, Bookseller and the Independent Presbyterian Church bookshop in downtown Savannah; at the Candler Hospital gift shop in midtown; and at the Savannah Christian Church bookstore on the southside. Jack will have a book signing at Barnes and Noble from noon to 2 p.m. Sept. 28.</p>
<p>Proceeds from all sales will support the work of the Mission Committee of Isle of Hope United Methodist Church. Jack’s a member of both the church and the committee.</p>
<p>Eades, who’ll turn 47 in August, characterizes his creation as being “ideal for anyone with a hectic life who still wants to make time to study God’s word.”</p>
<p>“It allows one to gain familiarity and some knowledge of each book of the Bible,” said Jack, a native of Atlanta who’s a graduate Erskine College and the Mercer University School of Medicine. “It helps readers apply the verses to their daily lives.</p>
<p>“Far too many people these days say they don’t have time to read the Bible. This book lets you read a verse with a devotional in less than a minute, so you’re bound to have time to do it.</p>
<p>“It’s useful for anyone who wants to gain exposure to the Bible; for someone who’s fallen out of the practice of reading the Bible and wants to get started again; or for one who wants to memorize scripture.”</p>
<p>As he originally intended, Jack has included verses from all 66 books of the Bible, and each verse and devotional is accompanied by a photograph relating to the scripture and text. Many of the photos were taken by Jack, with others being provided by his wife, Eleanor, and close acquaintances.</p>
<p>Jack’s photo for one of the devotionals, “Always Do Good,” shows a blind man on a busy street in Havana. He’s holding out a cup in hope of collecting some alms, but he’s being shunned by passersby.</p>
<p>The accompanying verse is from the fourth chapter of James: “Therefore to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”</p>
<p>The devotional states: “Have you ever regretted a missed opportunity? We all have! Seize the opportunity to do good for others, be a blessing, and glorify God. Do not become a sinner of omission!”</p>
<p>When I interviewed Jack last week, I couldn’t resist asking him why his book contained 78 devotionals instead of, say, 66 (one for each book of the Bible) or 365 (one for each day of the year).</p>
<p>“I just got worn out,” he said with a laugh, relating that he did his writing while working fulltime in his allergy and asthma practice and also co-coaching the youth soccer team of one of his three children.</p>
<p>As for that day 15 months ago when the book idea “popped” into his head, Jack reflected that the occurrence might have had something to do with the peace and calm of that morning in the woods.</p>
<p>“But,” he said, “I really think the Lord put that thought there.</p>
<p>“It was a quiet and appropriate time to listen to something I felt the Lord led me to do.”</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-07-25/island-hopping-allergist-pens-devotionals-busy-folks#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishEntertainmentAtlantaAmazon.comBarnes and NobleWestBow PressBibleCandler HospitalChristian ChurchContact DetailsEntertainmentErskine CollegeFamily RelationIndependent Presbyterian Church bookshopJack EadesMercer UniversityNoble bookstoreOglethorpe MallPerson AttributesPerson CareerPerson LocationPerson RelationQuotationSavannah Christian Church bookstoreSouth CarolinaUSDXMLFri, 26 Jul 2013 03:18:08 +0000rich wittish1036485 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Indoor yard sale escapes summer heathttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-06-27/island-hopping-indoor-yard-sale-escapes-summer-heat
<p>“Indoor yard sale” sounds like an oxymoron, but that’s not stopping Pam O’Donnell, Jodi Grayson and Jamie Trypuck from holding one this Saturday.</p>
<p>Pam, Jodi and Jamie are the staff at the Frank G. Murray Community Center on Whitemarsh Island, which will be the site of the second annual Indoor Yard Sale from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday.</p>
<p>“We wanted to offer a good, safe, cool environment with lots of parking,” said Jodi about their motivation for staging such an event indoors and out of the summer sun.</p>
<p>There will be 12 tables of sale items in the main room of the center, a Chatham County Department of Parks and Recreation facility at 160 Whitemarsh Island Road, just north of Islands High School.</p>
<p>As of Monday morning, all 12 of the tables had been rented out at $10 a pop.</p>
<p>“It’s mostly people selling household goods,” said Jodi, who’s a recreation leader at the center. “There’ll be lots of housewares, bicycles — we’ve had so many things people are telling us they’re bringing, we’ll have a good variety.”</p>
<p>Said Pam of the sellers and their wares: “You can stack underneath (a table) and as high as you can go.”</p>
<p>The center’s inaugural Indoor Yard Sale was held last July on a Friday, and it was successful, said Pam, the center’s recreation supervisor. It’s been moved to a weekend date this year in hopes of attracting an even bigger turnout of shoppers.</p>
<p>The community center has been in existence for almost 13 years, Pam said, and, on weekdays, it’s a venue for wellness and exercise programs and for seminars, most of which, but not all, are geared to senior citizens.</p>
<p>It’s open for such activities from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Fridays, when recently released movies are shown beginning at 2 p.m. Admission to the movies is $1, which also buys popcorn and a soft drink.</p>
<p>On weeknights, the center hosts U.S. Coast Guard boating safety classes and meetings of homeowners associations and other community groups. The venue can be rented on weeknights and weekends for private functions such as weddings and family reunions, with fees set at $100 per hour.</p>
<p>“We’re booked almost every night,” said Jodi.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-06-27/island-hopping-indoor-yard-sale-escapes-summer-heat#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishContact DetailsJamie TrypuckJodi Graysonleader at the centerPam O'DonnellPerson Email AddressQuotationRecreation facilityUSDFri, 28 Jun 2013 02:55:20 +0000rich wittish1034580 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Thrive to serve up healthy options at schoolhttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-06-20/island-hopping-thrive-serve-healthy-options-school
<p>Grilled veggie burgers. Grilled Ashley Farm chicken breasts. Perfect pesto pasta. Tomato basil soup. A Caesar salad bar. Fruit and yogurt for dessert.</p>
<p>That’s what might be on the lunch menu on a given day this coming school year at St. Andrew’s School on Wilmington Island, thanks to a new partnership aimed at providing students with healthier meals.</p>
<p>To make this happen, St. Andrew’s has teamed up with Thrive Café, a Whitemarsh Island establishment that offers freshly prepared carry-out dishes and works with more than 20 local farms in using as many organic ingredients as possible.</p>
<p>Thrive owner Wendy Armstrong said starting Aug. 19, the café will be serving lunch each day of the school year to some 425 students and 80 faculty members at St. Andrew’s.</p>
<p>Wendy characterizes Thrive’s partnership with the independent college-preparatory school as “very innovative.”</p>
<p>“Schools wanting to get healthier have either hired corporate providers or have hired chefs directly as part of their staffs,” she said. “A partnership like this is unusual, as far as I’ve seen.”</p>
<p>The relationship started about three months ago when Casey Awad, an assistant to the headmaster at the school, emailed Wendy.</p>
<p>“They were not happy with their lunches and wanted to make a change,” Wendy said. “She asked if we would be willing to work with them in making the lunch program more healthy, and we said yes.”</p>
<p>Wendy figures the school’s interest in Thrive stemmed from the circumstance that “a lot parents and staff come here” to the café on U.S. Highway 80.</p>
<p>“Unconsciously, we’ve been building this relationship,” she said.</p>
<p>Wendy met several times with members of the St. Andrew’s faculty and board of directors, and an agreement was reached about a month ago.</p>
<p>Head of School Mark Toth said in reflecting on the partnership: “St. Andrew’s School is committed to finding relevant, meaningful opportunities to collaborate with others in the Savannah community.</p>
<p>“This new venture is an example of our entrepreneurial spirit and creative approach to the daily operations of the school. We want our students to be innovators, so we should lead by example.”</p>
<p>Part of the challenge of making the new program a success will be offering food that youngsters will want to eat, Wendy indicated during an interview last week.</p>
<p>“We’re still going to do kid favorites — hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta and pizza — but they’ll be healthier because we’ll be using cleaner meats, whole-wheat products and local veggies as much as possible.”</p>
<p>Via surveys and other methods, she’ll be seeking opinions and comments on the lunch program from faculty members, parents and students.</p>
<p>“We’ll be forming a committee of parents that would give input on menus,” Wendy said, also noting that a group of “kids of different ages” would be assembled to do a tasting of menu items before school starts.</p>
<p>The program is also aimed at involving students in other ways. Plans call for an existing vegetable garden on campus to be refurbished, a second garden to be created near the school’s cafeteria and local farmers to speak to classes about what they grow.</p>
<p>When asked about the added work involved in implementing the program, Wendy said, “We already do catering for big groups out of our kitchen. I just think of it (the program) as a really big catering job every day.”</p>
<p>She said she will have to hire “at least three full-time and some part-time” employees for the new program at the St. Andrew’s School cafeteria and that she intends to be on-site and in charge of the endeavor.</p>
<p>“My sous chef (Karin Maschek) is very capable of taking the reins of Thrive while I become a lunch lady,” Wendy said with a grin.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-06-20/island-hopping-thrive-serve-healthy-options-school#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishBusinessLaborLawThriveBusinessContact DetailsFood and drinkHamburgerLaborLawLunchMealsPerson CareerPerson Email AddressQuotationSaint Andrew's SchoolSt. Andrew's SchoolWENDY ARMSTRONGFri, 21 Jun 2013 01:35:25 +0000rich wittish1034102 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Locals to pen Harrack Hall history bookhttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-06-06/island-hopping-locals-pen-harrack-hall-history-book
<p>Researching the history of Harrock Hall — a small community just northwest of Isle of Hope — has five residents of the area “heading toward a book.”</p>
<p>That’s the outlook of retired educator Freya Zipperer, who’s been meeting with a quartet of colleagues for about a year and a half in an effort to learn more about their neighborhood, which stretches along Norwood Avenue from Sandfly to the Herb River.</p>
<p>“Our goal is to find out about where we live and recognize its historic significance,” she said. </p>
<p>“We started talking and decided this was such an interesting area, something should be written about it.”</p>
<p>The group consists of Zipperer, freelance writer Sharon Bordeaux, landscaper Mark Hadden and the husband-and-wife team of attorney Dottie Courington and Billy McGinley, who’s a retired insurance broker and mortgage loan officer. </p>
<p>They at first discussed embodying their findings in the form of a website, Freya said. </p>
<p>But now, she said, they’re leaning toward creating a book similar to those in Arcadia Publishing company’s “Images of America” series, which makes liberal use of old photographs in presenting the histories of communities, towns and regions throughout the United States.</p>
<p>“We want to do our own version” of such a book, Freya said.</p>
<p>To that end, the five have been conducting research at the Georgia Historical Society and the main public library, and they’ve been delving into Chatham County property records.</p>
<p>“We’ve been putting together the history of the ownership of the land by researching deeds and old maps,” Freya said.</p>
<p>They’ve learned that the first deed holders “were out here in the 1700s,” she said, and that Harrock Hall was an estate covering some 91 acres. </p>
<p>Fifty-seven of those acres were subdivided into half-acre home sites in 1929, and, Freya said, the remaining acreage was divided “fairly soon” afterward.</p>
<p>Besides digging into records, the researchers have heard from “resource people” they’ve invited to their twice-monthly meetings — folks such as Jimmy Sickel, who’s provided insight about the area from old maps he owns, and Robert Sisson, who supplied detailed information about the crash of a U.S. Air Force tanker plane in the Harrock Hall subdivision in 1958.</p>
<p>They are also accumulating oral histories, which, Freya said, “entails going and talking to people who have lived out here a long time,” and they’re collecting other reminiscences via email.</p>
<p>“We’ve gotten some wonderful contributions from people who used to live here in the 1950s,” she said.</p>
<p>One of those came from Roy Black, a retired Air Force officer who recalled being “allowed as kids to play, play, play — and that we did.”</p>
<p>“We played unending softball in the dirt road in front of the Johnsons’ house,” Black stated in his email to Freya. </p>
<p>“We played until dark. Our parents did not worry, as they knew we would come home safe. </p>
<p>“We also played football and other sports on the old dirt road. Too bad they had to pave it. </p>
<p>“When we were not spending time in the dirt road, we were down in the river either fishing, crabbing or swimming. The mud fights were the most fun. </p>
<p>“We never had a curfew, didn’t have cellphones, computers. The fun was outside, playing.”</p>
<p>Freya said she and her colleagues have gathered “a great deal of information” about Harrock Hall and are now in the process of sorting and organizing it.</p>
<p>They’re looking for more photographs of the area and its residents, including any of what Freya deems the “periphery” of the neighborhood, which extends along nearby LaRoche Avenue to the Bona Bella area.</p>
<p>If you have any material that might help them in their endeavor, you can reach Freya by calling 355-2107.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-06-06/island-hopping-locals-pen-harrack-hall-history-book#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishBusinessEducationTechnologyArcadia Publishing companyAmericaAttorneyBilly McGinleybroker and mortgage loan officerBusinessChiChobitsContact DetailsDottie CouringtonEducationFreyaFreya ZippererGeorgiaHarrock HallJimmy SickelMark HaddenPerson CareerPerson Email AddressQuotationSharon BordeauxTechnologyUnited StateswriterThu, 06 Jun 2013 23:05:46 +0000rich wittish1033089 at http://savannahnow.comIsland Hopping: Tour gives rare peek inside Tybee homeshttp://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-05-31/island-hopping-tour-gives-rare-peek-inside-tybee-homes
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<p>If you’re interested in giving your humble abode the feel of a Tybee Island cottage, attending the 16th annual Tybee Island Tour of Homes on June 8 should give you lots of ideas about how to do so.</p>
<p>In the process, you might find you can do some island-themed decorating fairly inexpensively, by using what tour publicist Fran Galloway calls “natural elements and reclaimed elements.”</p>
<p>Examples of those are the seashell that serves as a doorknob and the old shutters accenting a wall that were employed by renowned interior designer Jane Coslick in redecorating one of the homes on the tour.</p>
<p>“Jane has shown people you don’t have to have a ton of money to make things charming and fabulous,” said Galloway, who gave me a drive-by preview of the tour last week.</p>
<p>The event, being held “rain or shine” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the 8th, features visits to the All Saints Episcopal Church chapel, with its 13unique stained glass windows, and to nine residences, two of which are in the same building. That structure was built in 1915 and was a storage facility for Fort Screven, the U.S. Army post that encompassed much of the north end of Tybee during the first half of the 20th century. Many of the original features of the two-story building have been retained, including the hardwood floors, visible remnants of its post and beam construction, and a grate and hook that were part of a system for hoisting items from the first to the second floor.</p>
<p>The homes that will be on exhibit are a mix of relatively new construction and restored cottages, and, in keeping with a tour principal, have not been included in previous tours.</p>
<p>“You probably won’t get a chance to see them again,” said Galloway.</p>
<p>Two of the homes provide looks at the work of the aforementioned Coslick, a historic preservationist who, during the past 20 years, has been involved in the restoration of about 40 Tybee cottages.</p>
<p>On the tour is Madelyn’s on the Marsh on Lewis Avenue, a cottage built in the 1950s as part of the Palm Terrace development. Coslick restored and decorated it, using several pieces of the owner’s vintage furniture and adorning the exterior with black-and-white polka dot shutters.</p>
<p>The other Coslick endeavor on the tour involves a large beach house at Fort Screven that was built in the 1990s and redecorated by Jane in 2010 to give it the feel of an old Tybee cottage. Reclaimed heart-pine flooring was used in the restoration, and the interior walls are covered with custom-milled bead board painted white.</p>
<p>Also on the tour, which is being chaired by Viviane Dubuc, are:</p>
<p>• A year-round residence on 5th Avenue built in 1996 with a design adapted from Southern Living magazine’s “Nautical Cottage” plan and heart-pine floors milled from timbers reclaimed from an old Sear’s warehouse in Chicago</p>
<p>• A large three-story beach house at mid-island that features various pieces incorporating seashells, including a fireplace and mantle</p>
<p>• A raised Tybee cottage on 10th Street built in 1930 whose attic space was recently converted into rooftop decks</p>
<p>• A cottage on Miller Avenue built in 2012 and featuring “beachy” colors and hardwood floors</p>
<p>• A fish camp-style cottage on 2nd Avenue that was built in 1930 and renovated in 2007</p>
<p>Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 on the day of the tour, and the ticket price includes lunch. To purchase tickets, call or visit Gallery by the Sea on Tybee at 1016 U.S. Highway 80 East, 786-7979 or E. Shaver Booksellerin Savannah at 326 Bull St., 234-7257. On the day of the tour, tickets can also be purchased at “The Old School Cafeteria” on Tybee near the YMCA at Butler Avenue and Fifth Street.</p>
<p>Proceeds from the tour will benefit the Tybee Rising Tyde Community Food Pantry and the Tybee Islandme Academy Charter School.</p>
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<p>Rich Wittish can be reached via email at <a href="mailto:rwittish@bellsouth.net">rwittish@bellsouth.net</a>.</p>
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http://savannahnow.com/accent/2013-05-31/island-hopping-tour-gives-rare-peek-inside-tybee-homes#commentsAccentColumnrich wittishTechnologyWarAll Saints Episcopal Church chapelContact DetailsCottageFort ScrevenFran GallowayGeography of GeorgiaGeography of the United StatesGeorgiainterior designerJane CoslickPerson CareerProtestant Episcopal ChurchQuotationSavannah metropolitan areaSavannah RiverTechnologyTybee Island, GeorgiaU.S. Route 80United States ArmyWarFri, 31 May 2013 04:01:19 +0000rich wittish1032576 at http://savannahnow.com